Stan,
It's usually the cold weather that drives the birds south. The season opens Sept 1st and we've usually had a few good frosts by that time, or it's borderline freezing temps. Usually by the 3rd-4th week of August, they're scarce. If we haven't gotten any frosts, it could be in the high 30's-low 40's with rainy/drizzly weather. I can drive down to our property about 50 miles SE and hear doves cooing on the property and I presume nesting in the timber we have, so not much in the way of a good food source on the property or surrounding land. There is about a 15 acre piece that we used to grow hay on, that hasn't been planted with trees, and has lain fallow for 30 years or so. I figure that would be a good piece to play around with, and I do enjoy a good dove shoot, although I have to say, I've never had a spectacular one that you folks are probably used to. The effort wouldn't be wasted though, as there is plenty of whitetails, turkeys some elk and a resident population of CA quail, that drive my dad nuts, due to scavaging on the strawberries in his garden, when ripe.
About 45 miles due south of here, one starts to get into the fringes of the Palouse country, which is mainly wheat. I've driven down on opening day and it's been very spotty as to whether one finds birds or not, so based on that, it could be that even a good food source might not hold birds in the area.
Thanks for the suggestion Stan. I guess one would need to forge ahead to see what the outcome would be, concerning doves.
